Sure, the president can point to the mess George W. Bush handed him, but after having governed for almost a full term, he can't do too much of that with sounding like a whiner.
Asserting the independence from political factions that was the hallmark of his electoral campaign, Mr. Koizumi seemed to follow through in naming a longtime ally, Taku Yamasaki, to the post of secretary general, the second most powerful person in the party that has governed Japan for almost all of the last four decades.
The PP, under José María Aznar, has governed Spain for almost eight years.
It has governed there for almost all of post-war history, often with an absolute majority, as now with "King Horst" as state premier.
AOMORI, Japan — Hokuto Yokoyama has run for political office four times, and lost four times, as an opposition candidate in this mountainous region known for its abundant apples, and its equally abundant loyalty to the conservative Liberal Democratic Party, which has governed Japan almost continuously for more than a half-century.
For the messianic Mr Blair, a moderniser who has governed in almost presidential defiance of his own party, this calls for a big shift towards government by consensus.
But for the People's Action Party, which is known as the P.A.P. and has governed Singapore almost as a one-party state, the outcome appeared to be a signal that voters were seeking more accountability and responsiveness from their leaders.
"We have seen this proposal but we certainly wouldn't choose, with all respect for David Bowie, that name," says Piero Benvenuti, the general secretary of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the body that has governed celestial nomenclature for almost 100 years.
But the Liberal Democratic Party of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, which has governed almost uninterrupted since 1955, still dominates rural Japan.
Mr Zelaya would still have to face corruption charges if he were to return from exile.Angela's ashesIn Germany Angela Merkel's ruling CDU party lost an important election in the state of Baden-Württemberg, which it had governed continuously for almost 60 years.
